Legal Extortion By HOA's

For several years agents have been talking about HOA letters. These are produced by Home Owner Associations to show that a seller in the community is up to date on their Home Owner Dues. The current contracts call for the owner to pay these fees before closing. It was not always that way.

Several years ago this was a negotiated item. Listing agents would check the little box on page two of the contract stating the Buyer was to pay this fee. Selling agents who missed this little box were left to explain to their Buyer clients that they now needed to foot this bill. I have seen these HOA letter fees run from $100's to $1,000's .

I believe that these HOA letter fees need to be paid by the Seller. It is in fact all about whether the HOA fees are paid up by the Seller, so they should shoulder this cost. However, the HOA's around here have found a neat new revenue source in these letter fees. How much can it cost to look up a record and type a letter?

I am not a fan of regulation, but in this instance I think many HOA's are gouging their residents and making money on this service.

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I write about daily life as a Realtor in the Towne Lake Community in Woodstock Georgia.

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